3 Jan. 46
"Please inform the Reichsführer
SS and report to the Führer that all arrangements against Jews,
political, and concentration camp internees in the Protectorate have
been taken care of by me personally today. The situation there is one
of calmness, fear of Soviet successes, and hope of an occupation by
the Western enemies. Kaltenbrunner."
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): That is not dated?
LT. COMDR. HARRIS: This is not dated.
The eleventh crime for which Kaltenbrunner is responsible is the
persecution of the churches. It is unnecessary to present specific
evidence that this crime continued after 30 January 1943, since this was
one of the fundamental purposes of the Security Police and SD, as has
already been shown.
These are the crimes for which the Defendant Kaltenbrunner must answer.
As to his intent, there is no need to go outside the record before this
Tribunal. On December 1, 1945, in these proceedings the Witness Lahousen
was asked on cross-examination, "Do you know Mr. Kaltenbrunner?"
After describing his meeting with Kaltenbrunner on a day in Munich when
a university student and his sister were arrested and executed for
distributing leaflets from the auditorium, Lahousen said-and I wish to
refer only to two sentences on Page 724 of the transcript (Volume III,
Page 29) quoting:
"I can easily reconstruct that day.
It was the first and last time that I saw Kaltenbrunner, with whose
name I was familiar. Of course Kaltenbrunner mentioned this subject to
Canaris, who was completely shattered because of what happened that
day and was still under the painful impression and thank God
there are still witnesses available who can testify to this. When
discussing the matter Kaltenbrunner was very much to the point, but at
the same time he was quite cynical about it. That is the only thing I
can tell you about this matter."
Kaltenbrunner was a life-long fanatical Nazi. He was the leader of the
SS in Austria prior to the Anschluss and played a principal role in the
betrayal of his native country to the Nazi conspirators. As higher SS
and Police Leader in Austria after the Anschluss, he supervised and had
knowledge of the activities of the Gestapo and the SD in Austria. The
Mauthausen Concentration Camp was established in his jurisdiction and he
visited it several times. On at least one occasion he observed the gas
chamber in action. With this knowledge and background he accepted, in
January 1943, appointment as Chief of the Security Police and SD, the
very agencies which sent such victims to their deaths. He held that
office